How all this started: Too much time having passed since I’d introduced Volcanic Storytelling, I thought, “What would be a fun re-entry that would build on the theme, and make my lofty ideas more palatable? I know! I’ll start with the food angle!”

Which led to this:

Yes — that was intentional.

But then things started going wrong. They didn’t taste quite right. They didn’t look quite right. They looked…

I know how unappetizing those are. I really do.

Alternate post titles:

The Yolks on Me

Don’t Play With Your Food

I love deviled eggs. I make them more often than I should. Here’s a recent batch, where I dealt a heavy cayenne hand:

Solution? I decided to improvise, and took another approach:

Here’s the final product:

Confused yet? This is about food, volcanoes and storytelling. The deviled eggs are appetizers (red ones feature horseradish, topped with a sweet chili sauce; green contain wasabi). Looked at in one order, they tell a story of destruction — of nature, destroyed by… nature?

(Nature vs nature; that’s a theme, right?)

Reversed, it’s a story of restoration.

Nature corrects itself! (No, not a justification for failed elective surgery.)

Anyway, some answers:

1. Yes, I ate all most  some of these.
2. Nature vs. nature is not a theme. Stop stealing my blog posts for your homework assignments, Post-Millennials!
3. “Why volcanoes?” Our lives are simply fragile domes over tempestuous, simmering depths. When and how they erupt? That’s your story.